GAM Investments’ newly created UK and western Europe commercial real estate debt strategy has so far received £200m (€224.4m) worth of commitments from investors.
The asset manager said it has launched the fund to invest in secured mid-market commercial real estate loans. The fund will continue raising capital over the remainder of the year, GAM said.
Fund deployment has commenced with the first loans extended to borrowers.
Jon Rickert, an investment director of GAM’s real estate debt finance team, said: “Increased regulation and continued de-leveraging in financial markets have caused banks to pull back from the mid-sized commercial real estate loan market, which has created a structural funding shortage for the segment.
“At the same time, we see great investor demand for this asset class as it can offer attractive returns in the current low-yield environment with a focus on downside protection and valuable diversification to traditional market portfolios.”
